ballentine



(ModeL) J. S. BROWNE, D. W. BALLENTINE8z; GnM. TURNER.

Station and Cargo Indicator.

Patented Aug. 3,1880.

".PETEPS. FNDTO LITHOGRAPMER WASHINGTON D C NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH S. BROWNE, DAVID W. BALLENTINE, AND GEORGE M. TURNER, OF PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 230,692, dated August 3, 1880.

Application filed June 3, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Jos. S. BROWNE, DA- v11) W. BALLENTINE, and GEORGE M. TUR- NER, citizens of the United States, residing at Portsmouth, in the county of Norfolk and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Station and Cargo Indicators; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which 1 5 form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a car, a portion being broken away, with the indicator applied thereto. Fig.2 is a perspective of the indicator box or casing, the door being 2o thrown open. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the casing with the door closed, and Fig. 4 side views of the indicator-slides separate from the casing.

Our invention relates to indicators applied to cars to indicate the nature of the cargo,

the point of destination, and the shippingroad, or other matters of such information as may be desired to be applied to the car, and is designed especially for freight-cars.

The invention consists in the construction and also in the combination of parts, hereinafter particularly described, and then specified in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter 3 5 A indicates an ordinary freight-car, into the side of which is set our device. This device consists of a box or casing, D, usually cast'of metal, and made with flanges G and receding sides D, and provided with a hinged door, E. 40 Within the box there is formed a shelf, F,

which divides the chamber into two compartments, as shown in the drawings. This shelf is designed to receive and hold the slides which indicate the shipping-point, thepoint of des'"- '5 tination, or the character of the freight. There may be formed as many of these shelves as may be desirable, so that one may hold the slides indicating the shipping-point, another the slides indicating the destination, and another the character of the cargo. 1 In the drawin gs, however, only one is illustrated.

(MOdeL) The door of the box is cast with two openings, G and H, one being for a slide indicating the shipping-road, indicated in this instance by the letters S. and R. It. 1%., meaning the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, the other a slide indicating the character of the cargo in this instance corn.

It will be understood, however, that we do not limit ourselves to the number of openings.

Around each opening, on the inside of the door, there is cast or otherwise made a flange,

I, so as to form a recess, J, in which may he placed a glass or other transparent plate, K,

which is held in place by means of the cap L,

which is cast or otherwise made with a recess, M. The edges of the cap L rest partly on the flange I and partly on the glass K, thereby firmly and securely holding the glass in position. This way of securing the glass to its place is considered to be better than the employment of putty and the like, for if putty were used the jarring of the car would in a short time cause the putty to loosen, and then the glass would rattle and break and the easy working of the slides be interfered with.

The cap L is cast preferably with lugs'a, through which and into'lugs 0 cast on the door E are passed the screws N, which hold the cap to its place. If the glass should get broken, the cap L can be readily removed and another glass inserted. The recess cast as a part of the cap receives the slides O, which are slipped into place through the open end of the cap, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the letters being next to the glass and seen through the same.

When the slides are applied, as described, and the door closed, the end of the casing keeps the slides in their recesses, and yet when the door is opened the slides can be easily and 0 quickly slipped out and others substituted for them, a number of which indicating diflerent stations and cargoes being stored away in the casing.

These slides may be of metal, wood, or other 9 5 material, with letters, words, or names printed on them or theletters may be cast as part of them, that kind' being illustrated by the drawmgs.

The box made as described is fitted into the too side of a box-car, and there held by screws or other suitable fastening devices, and is protect'ed on the inside by the sheathing, which extends half-way up, or thcreabout, from the floor to the top of the car.

When the suitable slides have been placed in the cap L and the door closed, it may be locked by means of a padlock, and the parts cannot then be tampered with by evil-design ing persons.

Having described our invention, what we claim is 1. In a station or cargo indicator, the door E, provided with an opening, G, a recess formed around said opening, a transparent plate fitted in said recess, and a recessed cap adapted to bear againstand hold said plate in position, and an indicating-slide between said plate and 1 cap, substantially as set forth.

JOSEPH SAMUEL BROWNE. DAVID W. BATJLENTINE. GEORGE M. TURNER.

Witnesses JNo. W. WOOD, R0121. S. GRANT. 

